Space shuttle Endeavour's final touchdown

By the CNN Wire Staff

Updated 5:51 PM ET, Fri September 21, 2012

Photos: Endeavour heads to LA23 photos

Shuttle Endeavour's journey to L.A. – Space shuttle Endeavour passes over the Golden Gate Bridge before making its final landing in Los Angeles on Friday, September 21. The shuttle passed over California landmarks before heading to the airport. Endeavour will be placed on public display at the California Science Center. This is the final ferry flight scheduled in the Space Shuttle Program era. See more of CNN's best photography.

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Photos: Endeavour heads to LA23 photos

Shuttle Endeavour's journey to L.A. – Space shuttle Endeavour makes its final landing at the Los Angeles International Airport on Friday.

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Photos: Endeavour heads to LA23 photos

Shuttle Endeavour's journey to L.A. – Endeavour flies over the U.S. Bank Tower, the tallest building in California, in downtown Los Angeles on Friday.

Shuttle Endeavour's journey to L.A. – Endeavour soars over the California high desert west of the towns of Rosamond and Mojave on the first leg of its tour of California on Friday.

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Photos: Endeavour heads to LA23 photos

Shuttle Endeavour's journey to L.A. – The space shuttle passes over San Francisco before making its final landing in Los Angeles.

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Photos: Endeavour heads to LA23 photos

Shuttle Endeavour's journey to L.A. – NASA's shuttle carrier aircraft lands with the space shuttle Endeavour at Edwards Air Force Base in California on Thursday, September 20. Endeavour is scheduled to make its final flight on Friday to Los Angeles, where the now-retired spacecraft will be displayed.

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Photos: Endeavour heads to LA23 photos

Shuttle Endeavour's journey to L.A. – Military personnel look at Endeavour atop the modified Boeing 747 at Edwards Air Force Base on Thursday. Endeavour, along with space shuttles Discovery, Enterprise and Atlantis, became a museum piece after NASA ended its 30-year shuttle program in July 2011.

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Photos: Endeavour heads to LA23 photos

Shuttle Endeavour's journey to L.A. – An F-16 fighter jet is seen in the foreground as Endeavour makes a flyby Thursday before landing at Edwards Air Force Base.

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Photos: Endeavour heads to LA23 photos

Shuttle Endeavour's journey to L.A. – Students and faculty at the University of Arizona watch as Endeavour flies over the campus in Tucson, Arizona, on Thursday. Endeavour reportedly flew over Tucson to honor former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, who commanded Endeavour's final mission to space in May 2011.

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Photos: Endeavour heads to LA23 photos

Shuttle Endeavour's journey to L.A. – Space shuttle Endeavour is ferried by NASA's shuttle carrier aircraft as it flies over Houston on Wednesday, September 19. After a two-day delay due to unfavorable weather, Endeavour began its flight to Los Angeles on Wednesday.

Shuttle Endeavour's journey to L.A. – Spectators wait for Endeavour to fly over Hancock County, Mississippi, on Wednesday.

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Photos: Endeavour heads to LA23 photos

Shuttle Endeavour's journey to L.A. – Workers pose for a photograph on the wing of NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft Wednesday, with the space shuttle Endeavour perched on top.

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Photos: Endeavour heads to LA23 photos

Shuttle Endeavour's journey to L.A. – Wednesday's leg took Endeavour to Houston, Texas, with flyovers along Florida's Space Coast, Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.

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Photos: Endeavour heads to LA23 photos

Shuttle Endeavour's journey to L.A. – Space shuttle Endeavour is seen atop NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center on Monday, September 17, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. See more of CNN's best photography.

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Story highlights

Space Shuttle Endeavour has landed at Los Angeles Int'l Airport

It's the fourth and final shuttle to be retired

The final space shuttle to take to the skies lifted off for the final time Friday morning

The retired shuttle is headed toward a museum in Los Angeles

The last space shuttle to grace the skies, Endeavour, ended two decades of glorious flights Friday, wowing onlookers as it descended onto a runway at Los Angeles International Airport atop a modified Boeing 747 jet at 12:51 p.m. PT.

A crowd 5,000-strong, according to the Los Angeles County office of emergency management, gathered on a bluff overlooking the airport to watch Endeavour's low-altitude flyover and final touchdown.

Daniela Derderian brought her son Michael, 7, and her daughter, Angela, 5, to the landing.

"It's a piece of history. It's the closing of an era," she said. "I remember when the Columbia exploded. This is like the end of an era of man traveling in space, especially with Neil Armstrong just dying."

Endeavour, ferried by jet, lifted off for the last time at 8:17 a.m. PT on Friday, leaving Edwards Air Force Base, California,for a farewell tour through the Golden State's skies over Sacramento, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. NASA had delayed Friday's takeoff by an hour hoping to reach San Francisco under clearer skies, according to the space agency's website.

It was the final leg of a three-day, three-stage cross-country trip that NASA designed to show off Endeavour in the sky to the American public. The space agency encouraged onlookers to share their sightings of the airborne spectacle on social media via the hashtags #spottheshuttle and #OV105, the later being Endeavour's "vehicle designation."

Endeavour will need to be removed from its perch atop the Boeing 747 that carried it cross-country from Florida's Kennedy Space Center. Its final destination is the California Science Center in Los Angeles, where it will go on display for posterity.

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Touring space shuttle Endeavour

Space shuttle Discovery flies into retirement – Space shuttle Discovery, mounted atop a 747 shuttle carrier aircraft, goes by the Washington Monument during a flyover of the nation's capital on its trip to retirement Tuesday, April 17. The flight -- the last time Discovery will be aloft -- took it from Florida's Kennedy Space Center to the Washington area, where it will spend retirement as a museum piece at an annex to the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia, near Dulles International Airport.

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Photos: Discovery flies into retirement15 photos

Space shuttle Discovery flies into retirement – Discovery and its 747 jumbo jet carrier pass over the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum annex in Chantilly, Virginia, on Tuesday. The shuttle will be removed from the modified jet and star as the guest of honor at a four-day celebration punctuated by a ceremony Thursday formally welcoming Discovery to the Smithsonian collection.

Space shuttle Discovery flies into retirement – Discovery flies over the National Mall on Tuesday as it arrives from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The space shuttle Enterprise, which has been on display at the Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center since 1985, will be moved to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York.

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Space shuttle Discovery flies into retirement – Schoolchildren on a tour watch as Discovery flies over the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday.

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Space shuttle Discovery flies into retirement – Discovery makes a low pass over the Washington, D.C., area before its final landing Tuesday.

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Space shuttle Discovery flies into retirement – An aspiring astronaut poses in the parking lot of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center on Tuesday in Chantilly.

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Space shuttle Discovery flies into retirement – Discovery flies over the National Mall before being retired at the Udvar-Hazy Center.

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Space shuttle Discovery flies into retirement – People gather to watch the arrival of Discovery at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center on Tuesday in Chantilly.

Space shuttle Discovery flies into retirement – Special guests watch the Discovery's arrival from the observation deck of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center on Tuesday in Chantilly.

Just Watched

Endeavour shuttle piggybacks 747

Shuttle Enterprise in the Big Apple – A barge carries the Space Shuttle Enterprise past the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor on Wednesday, June 6. The shuttle is on its way to the USS Intrepid Museum, where it will be on display aboard the former aircraft carrier.

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Photos: Enterprise in the Big Apple10 photos

Shuttle Enterprise in the Big Apple – Boats surround the Enterprise as it makes its way up the Hudson River. The shuttle was flown into JFK on the back of a 747 on April 27.

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Photos: Enterprise in the Big Apple10 photos

Shuttle Enterprise in the Big Apple – The Enterprise is seen from a busy New York street as it is carried up the river Wednesday.

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Shuttle Enterprise in the Big Apple – The final leg of the shuttle's journey to the USS Intrepid Museum was scheduled for Tuesday but delayed because of bad weather.

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Shuttle Enterprise in the Big Apple – The shuttle passes by the New York skyline on Wednesday.

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Shuttle Enterprise in the Big Apple – The Enterprise will be hoisted by crane onto the flight deck of the Intrepid.

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Photos: Enterprise in the Big Apple10 photos

Shuttle Enterprise in the Big Apple – NASA's space shuttle program ended last year, 30 years after it began. The Enterprise was never launched into space.

Shuttle Enterprise in the Big Apple – A giant crane carefully swings the Enterprise from the barge that transported it down the Hudson River toward the Intrepid.

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Shuttle Enterprise in the Big Apple – The Enterprise is carefully lowered onto the flight deck of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, its final resting place.

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EXPAND GALLERY

Endeavour, along with Discovery, Enterprise and Atlantis, became a museum piece after NASA ended its 30-year shuttle program in July 2011. All four shuttles have been permanently retired from service.

NASA said Endeavour will be moved via roads on October 12-13 to its final spot at the science museum.

On Thursday, it flew low over Tucson, Arizona, where Mark Kelly, who was the commander on the last Endeavour mission, watched with his wife, former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, before touching down at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

"The space shuttle is really a testament to American engineering and ingenuity," he told CNN affiliate KOLD. "It is the most amazing spacecraft ever built, by far."

His wife had watched the launch of his mission but missed the landing, so it was great for her to see the shuttle in the air, he added.

Two other shuttles -- Challenger and Columbia -- were destroyed in accidents that killed all aboard. Challenger exploded shortly after launch in 1986, and Columbia broke apart upon re-entry into Earth's atmosphere in 2003.

Endeavour's three-day piggyback flight was divided into three legs that could be described as scenic routes to showcase the shuttle to the public from coast to coast.

Wednesday's leg took Endeavour to Houston, with flyovers along Florida's Space Coast, Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.

As Endeavour bid farewell to Kennedy Space Center, it elicited strong emotions from people -- such as CNN iReporter Randy Lathrop of Cocoa, Florida -- who have lived with the shuttle program nearby for decades.

"It's the last time that she'll ever be at her home base again. It strikes a chord of nostalgia in you because she's done so many flights from the space center. This is her home," Lathrop said.

Named for the first ship commanded by British explorer James Cook, Endeavour rolled out of an assembly plant in Palmdale, California, in 1991 at a cost of $1.7 billion. It was the baby of the shuttle fleet, built as a replacement for Challenger.

Over the next 20 years, Endeavour flew some of the most high-profile shuttle missions, covering 25 flights and nearly 123 million miles. It flew a Spacelab mission and numerous International Space Station assembly missions and rendezvoused with Russia's Mir Space Station.